INS Reminds Eligible Salvadorans to Re-register for TPS by 11/12/02

INS Reminds Eligible Salvadorans to Re-register forTemporary Protected Status (TPS) by November 12, 2002

November 7, 2002

WASHINGTON – The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) today reminded those eligible Salvadorans to re-register immediately for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to maintain TPS and employment authorization for the 12-month period that began on September 9, 2002 and will end on September 9, 2003. Eligible Salvadorans who fail to timely re-register will lose employment authorization eligibility and risk being removed from the United States. Accordingly, INS strongly encourages all eligible El Salvadorans to immediately take advantage of this benefit program and re-register.

Completed re-registration applications for TPS must be mailed to the appropriate Service Center and postmarked on or before November 12, 2002. Applicants should not delay in mailing their re-registration applications.  Re-registration is necessary even though INS published a notice in the Federal Register on July 11, 2002 extending the TPS Employment Authorization Document (EAD) validity period from September 9, 2002 to March 9, 2003. The automatic EAD extension is designed only to prevent gaps in employment authorization while re-registration applications are processed, but it does not relieve TPS beneficiaries of the responsibility to timely re-register for TPS benefits.

On July 9, 2002, INS announced a one-year extension of the designation of El Salvador for TPS until September 9, 2003. The TPS extension notice was published in the Federal Register on July 11, 2002. This 12-month extension of TPS covers an estimated 280,000 Salvadorans who have already applied for TPS.

Salvadorans currently registered under TPS who desire an extension must re-register by filing both the TPS application (Form I-821) and an application for employment authorization (Form I-765) with the appropriate INS Service Center. For re-registration, there is no fee for Form I-821. However, a $120 fee must accompany Form I-765 if an applicant requests employment authorization. If the applicant does not require employment authorization or already has employment authorization, Form I-765 is still required but no fee is necessary. Applicants for an extension of TPS benefits do not need to submit new fingerprints and therefore do not need to submit a $50 fee. However, children beneficiaries of TPS who have reached the age of fourteen but were not previously fingerprinted must pay the $50 fingerprint fee with the application for extension. These forms are available from the toll-free INS Forms line, 1-800-870-3676, and from the INS Web site, www.uscis.gov.An applicant may request a waiver of TPS-related application fees in accordance with the regulations.

This extension does not allow Salvadorans who entered the United States after February 13, 2001 to apply for TPS. This extension covers only Salvadorans who have been continually present in the United States as of March 9, 2001 and who have continually resided in the United States since February 13, 2001. An extension of TPS does not change the required dates of continuous physical presence and residence in the United States.

TPS registrants who need to travel outside the United States during the coming year must receive advance parole from their local INS office or INS Service Center prior to departing the United States. Failure to do so may jeopardize their ability to return to the United States. Advance parole allows an individual to travel abroad and return to the United States. Advance parole is issued on a case-by-case basis. Individuals who are granted TPS may apply for advance parole by filing Form I-131 at their local INS district office or with an INS Service Center.

- INS -